And the base keep runnin', runnin'

After doing some Jillian Michaels workouts earlier this week and again this morning, I took to the streets for a bit of cardio.  Not that the Ripped in 30 workouts are easy, but I've been following up with cardio to get me in the zone for my first triathlon next Sunday.  Sidenote - I'm definitely NOT ready.

My neighborhood is fairly hilly, which makes for some decent training runs, even though 82 degrees with 70%+ humidity does not make for an enjoyable run.  It's great, though, in that I have plenty of opportunities for hill training.  This is an endurance/speed technique that I'm (unfortunately) very familiar with given my high school cross country coach's undying love for the torture it inflicted upon us.  Basically, you run up a hill over and over and over.  Maybe you take a break, then you do it again.  It works, so stick with what you know, right?

Although I'd been on many runs throughout my neighborhood, I hadn't identified a hill that spoke to me for such a workout.  So after an easy half mile up and down some potential suitors streets, I came upon the hill...

Ok, so the "hill" looks pretty lame in Google Street View, but I swear it is a slowly sloping hill.  It's actually two sided, so if I were feeling ambitious I might double up and run up one side, down the other and back up (yeah right). 

What I love about this hill is that it's on a dead-end residential road, so there is very little traffic.  And, since I run early enough that very few people are out, save the paper delivery and trash collection services, I have the adjoining road and hill to myself.  Or so I thought.

Mid-way through my 10 hill repeats on Monday morning, off in the distance I see someone approaching me.  Another runner, nothing unusual here, step aside, step aside.  I continued with my sprints up the hill and slow recovery jog back toward the road, and as the runner draws closer I see it's a man running along hunched over.  Although he skipped my "hill," he did get close enough for me to take notice that he's probably in his late 80's.  I continued my repeats, up and down, up and down, and I see him cross back, hunched over, but moving at a pretty good clip.  THAT was inspiring.

I set out again this morning after some punishment from Jillian, and there he was.  As lame as I felt chasing the neighborhood bunnies up and down my "hill,"  I was moved to push through.  If he can do it, I can, too.